The internal geography of firms

Abstract

We document that plants belonging to small and mid-sized firms are geographically concentrated, while large firms are much more dispersed. These differences are sizable; firms with 2 plants have a dispersion that is 5 log points lower than predicted by industry location patterns, while the corresponding figure is less than 2 log points for firms with 40 plants and less than a half log point for firms with 100 or more plants. These patterns are qualitatively robust across industries, time periods, and alternative specifications. We also find that plants that are farther from the firm headquarters employ less workers than closer plants within the same firm, and that this relationship is attenuated in large firms. We interpret these findings through the lens of a model of plant location in which more productive firms endogenously choose to lower their cost of geographic expansion.